Community:Administrators
Administrators' abilities Administrators have the technical ability to perform the following actions: *Block and unblock user accounts and IP addresses from editing. *Apply, modify, and remove page protection on a particular page to restrict or allow editing, moving, or creation. *Delete pages. *Grant and revoke user permissions requested by user accounts *Restrict and restore public visibility of information in individual logs and page revisions. *Edit fully protected pages * a page to any desired title *Perform other special actions as listed at Administrators normally take responsibility for judging the outcome of certain discussions, such as deletion discussions, move discussions, and move-review discussions, but other editors may close discussions in some cases (see non-admin closures). Becoming an administrator The Republic Wiki has no official requirements to become an administrator. Anyone can request adminship ("RFA") from the community, regardless of their experience. However, administrators are expected to have the trust and confidence of the community, so requests from users who do not have considerable experience are not usually approved. Any registered editor can comment on a request, and each editor will assess each candidate in their own way. Before requesting or accepting a nomination, candidates should generally be active, regular, and contributors, be familiar with the procedures and practices of the wiki, respect and understand its policies, and have gained the general trust of the community. Candidates are also required to disclose whether they have ever edited for pay. Questions regarding this are permitted to be asked of every candidate, by any editor in the community, throughout the RFA process. A discussion takes place about whether the candidate should become an administrator. If the candidate acquires a community consensus (no more than 2 oppositions or strong oppositions), the request will go to Administrators who will decide to accept or not the request. Administrators may "clerk" RfAs, dealing with comments and/or votes which they deem to be inappropriate. Adminship is granted indefinitely, and is removed only upon request, under circumstances involving high-level intervention (see Administrator abuse below) ), or temporarily for inactive admins. Places where administrators in particular can assist Administrator rights can be particularly helpful in certain areas: *Administrative backlogs *Anti-vandalism *Copyright problems (advice for admins) *Incidents for admin attention *Speedy deletion requests *Three-revert rule and edit warring violations Administrator noticeboards Two main noticeboards exist on which general administrator discussion takes place (any user may post or take part in discussions there): *Community:Administrators' noticeboard (WC:AN) – Used for things administrators may wish (or need) to know, such as notices and general information. *Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents (WC:ANI) – Used for matters needing attention from passing administrators. Although threads here can become long, this board is primarily for incidents and other matters needing advice or attention. Expectations of adminship Care and judgment If granted access, administrators must exercise care in using these new functions, especially the ability to delete pages and to block users and IP addresses (see the admin how-to to learn how to do these things). New administrators should also look at the pages linked from the administrators' reading list before using their administrative abilities. Occasional lapses are accepted but serious or repeated lapses, or lapses involving breaches may not always be. Administrator tools are also to be used with careful judgment; it can take some time for a new administrator to learn when it's best to use the tools, and it can take months to gain a good sense of how long a period to set when using tools such as blocking and page protection in difficult disputes. New administrators are strongly encouraged to start slowly and build up experience in areas they are used to, and to ask others if unsure. Administrator conduct Administrators are expected to lead by example and to behave in a respectful, civil manner in their interactions with others. Administrators are expected to follow policies and to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with adminship; administrators are not expected to be perfect. However, sustained or serious disruption of the wiki is incompatible with the expectations and responsibilities of administrators, and consistent or egregious poor judgment may result in the removal of administrator tools. Administrators should strive to model appropriate standards of courtesy and civility to other editors. Administrators should bear in mind that they have colleagues. Therefore, if an administrator finds that they cannot adhere to policies and remain civil while addressing a given issue, then the administrator should bring the issue to a noticeboard or refer it to another administrator to address, rather than potentially compound the problem with poor conduct. Accountability Administrators are accountable for their actions involving administrator tools, as unexplained administrator actions can demoralize other editors who lack such tools. Subject only to the bounds of civility, avoiding personal attacks, and reasonable good faith, editors are free to question or to criticize administrator actions. Administrators are expected to respond promptly and civilly to queries about their wiki-related conduct and administrative actions and to justify them when needed. Administrators who seriously or repeatedly act in a problematic manner, or who have lost the trust or confidence of the community, may be sanctioned or have their administrator rights removed by the Arbitration Committee. In the past, this has happened or been suggested for the following actions: *"Bad faith" adminship (sock puppetry, gross breach of trust, etc.) *Breach of basic policies (attacks, biting/civility, edit warring, privacy, etc.) *Conduct elsewhere incompatible with adminship (off-site attacking, etc.) *Failure to communicate – this can be either with editors (e.g., lack of suitable warnings or explanations of actions), or to address concerns of the community (especially when explanations or other serious comments are sought) **While best practices are for administrators to have Discord DMs public access enabled, they are not required to enable or reply. *Repeated, consistent, or egregious misuse of a tool that is bundled with the administrator toolset (such as rollback) – An administrator can be stripped of their administrative privileges entirely in order to remove access to those tools. *Repeated or consistent poor judgment.